Friday, December 31, 2010

2010 Movies- List

As the year comes to a close, here's a look back at the films I got excited about in 2010; best films I saw this year.

Having not seen everything this year, this list is not a complete best of. It's a list of films that inspired me to make movies of my own, to pursue loftier goals in my Pixar work, made me wish I had made them. The jealousy barometer is the one I most closely trust nowadays, so here goes. The 'I wish I did that' list of 2010, in no particular order.

Social NetworkA movie about greed, ambition, and the cost of their pursuit using YOUR favorite social networking app as the medium for it's exploration. Fincher and Sorkin knock it out of the park here. I love 'relationships as plot' films and this is one of the best examples I can think of. The film functions as a social commentary, a historical document and an astute observation of the human condition and it's paradoxes. It's talking about real stuff here. There have been disputes about it's factual accuracy, but that is hardly the point, demonstrating once again the difference between fact and truth. A movie I love, respect and admire. David Fincher's best film IMO.

Black SwanI'm a huge Darren Aronofsky fan. I saw Pi in college, it blew my mind and my thesis film from that year wears it's influence on it's sleeve. Black Swan is his most accessible film so far, despite being set in the notoriously insular world of modern ballet. The ideas at work are very similar to The Wrestler- how far are you willing to go to pursue your art?, where the Wrestler wins over Swan, is the Wrestler screenplay answers in very definite terms WHY, whereas Swan is content to shorthand that a bit. Despite some issues I've heard and can agree with in relation to the script, I think Aronofsky's inspired and brilliant direction more than makes up for them, and in some cases turns the potential weaknesses into strengths. The opening scene HAD me, and the film never let me go. Natalie Portman is staggeringly good in this film, giving one of the best performances I've seen in a while. Aronofsky is a modern American master director and one of the original voices working in film today.

True GritIf you were to make a list of stuff I like in movies, The Coen Brothers, Westerns and revenge movies would figure prominently. So...yeah. Loved it. It isn't what I expected AT ALL; I figured I was in for 'No Country for... Young...Women" or something, and I got the Big Lebowski in western gear. Which...is awesome by me. The Coens are the best filmmakers working today, bar none.

Winter's BoneAnother film featuring a tough,driven female heroine taking on a traditionally male role and nailing it to the wall. This is the film I think I most admire this year, all things considered. Brilliant and authentic, gritty but from a uniquely female perspective that gives the movie a really unique and refreshing quality. The 'you'll have to kill me to stop me' trope so often infused with simple macho bravado in lesser movies operates with such real, deep pathos and peril in Winter's Bone, that it takes a potentially standard chase, investigation film and turns it into exploration of identity, family, responsibility and personal sacrifice. A film about what we give up to become whole. Loved it.

How To Train Your DragonGreat film, beautifully made, and well told. Elevated pretty well trod subject matters and themes with great visuals, interesting character dynamics, sublime animation and brilliant filmmaking. The film earns so much love from me for really taking it's time to build the relationship, and invest us in it.The best film Dreamworks has made.

Toy Story 3Super biased for this, but bear with me. More than anything, I always respected the ambition of the film to speak plainly and honestly about accepting one's mortality, and that to love fully means sometimes saying goodbye. These themes are at the heart of the conceit's central analogy and are absolutely universal; one of- if not the main- criteria I use to think about films. We ALL die, we ALL lose loved ones. What do we do about it? That's what Ts3 is shooting at.

I should say haven't seen the kings speech, 127 hours, blue valentine and a few others people are going nuts over.

I should also say that I loved Tangled and Inception for honorable mentions.

All in all. Great year for movies I thought.What did you see/like/love?

16 comments:

Yeah, The Social Network and Toy Story 3 are the two best films I have seen this year. Together with Inception, they're the ones I saw multiple times at the theater.

How To Train Your Dragon was a blast too, amazing relationship between Hiccup and Toothless. I hope DreamWorks will be doing more films like this one !

I'm looking forward to seeing Black Swan, True Grit, Winter's Bone, The King's Speech and 127 Hours, all of which haven't been released here in France yet.

Can't wait to see them.

January-February is the best time to go to the theater over here ! Last year we got Up in the Air, A Serious Man, Fantastic Mr Fox and The Ghost Writer, which I loved. I think they were released in the USA in 2009, but I guess I'll still call them 2010 movies.

Let's hope that 2011 will be as great as 2010 as far as movies are concerned !

True Grit was not what I expected either. I think the Coen Brothers toe this line a lot in their films, but I felt at times the writing was too apparent. Some great characters in there for sure, but Winter's Bone, which had a lot of parallels, felt much more authentic, more nuanced. I enjoyed both, but Winter's Bone was the more impactful and satisfying film of the two for me.

Overall, I'm happy to see so many leading ladies in this year's crop of films--even though I loathed the insipid nature of Natalie Portman's character, Aronofsky's direction made it tolerable and the payoff was worth it in the end.

Good post! Curious to hear your thoughts on some of the ones you mentioned at the end. Inception, all hype aside, was in my top 3 this year.

Great selection, I have to agree that The Social Network definietly stood out, It blew me away with its soundtrack alone. There aren't enough films out there that even try to make these sorts of social commentaries.

One of my big short-comings of 2010 was not seeing Toy Story 3 on the big screen in 3D. It would had been an privilege since rated G film masterworks with good storytelling are rare these days. We can live with disappointments.

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